Systems in a Mad New World
by DarkMysticblade
Summary: Waking up one day to find yourself in the body a child is unpleasant. Waking up in Konoha and with a mysterious Kekkai Genkai could be much worse. OC SI starting pre-series with video game elements.
1. Waking Up

I am indeed shameless. I felt like writing a OC fic and I'd seen an interesting set of mechanics in a webcomic called 'The Gamer', so I decided to make an fic using those mechanics. The Gamer is a pretty good read if you feel like it, but you won't need to read it to understand this fic. Only if you feel like more of this.

* * *

"Eh? What's the time?" I sleepily think to myself, rolling over to look at my bedside.

But it's not my bedside. Waking up somewhere mysterious is more than enough of a jolt to wake me up.

I try to gather my breath and and get up. Looking around, it's a fairly small sterile room with little in it. There's a table off to my side with a full glass of water. There's a man watching me and after he sees me noticing him, he nods and leaves the room.

He was a rather peculiar looking fellow as well. His attire was the standard attire one would expect from a doctor or nurse but the thing that struck me was his purple hair. Normal eyes, normal clothing but odd hair. It was an interesting contradiction.

The door opens and the man from earlier returns with an old man. He was a fairly short man by my standards, but I could still feel a certain feeling of power coming from him. He had a rather strange hat and was wearing robes with symbols on them. I couldn't say what those symbols were for sure but they looked like kanji. If they were, this could mean some very confusing things.

"Good morning, sir." I say, being polite. I don't even know if it is morning though.

"No need to worry and it is afternoon." the old man replies with a knowing smile on his face.

"Sorry for being so direct, but where am I?" I ask.

"You are in Konoha General Hospital, young man." the old man replies.

Konoha? Pull the other one, it has bells on it.

"Why would I be in Konoha General Hospital?" I ask, confused as well.

"It might have something to do with being found floating in a stream half dead nearby with an injured leg." the old man replies, steadying his gaze on me.

Why would I be floating half dead in a river? I didn't even know there was a river nearby my place.

"I really don't why or how I got there though. Sorry to ask this so abruptly, but who are you?" I ask, trying to puzzle out my situation.

"You don't recognise the Sandaime Hokage?" the other man asks, raising his eyebrows at me.

A second look back at the old man and it's all starting to make a horrible kind of sense. I am talking to the Sandaime Hokage in Konoha. I don't even know why I got here, but I am here now.

"It is strange, but understandable. He is very young and perhaps he doesn't remember seeing me anywhere." The Sandaime tells his aid.

Very young? I'm 16. Not what'd you would call 'very young'. I begin to try and sit up but I notice something horribly wrong.

I'm not myself anymore. I'm short and my limbs are very small in comparison to what they used to be. I'll need to check later but this is starting to look really bad. I don't want to be caught out in Konoha as a 10 year old, damn it!

I look up again trying not to express my frustration outwardly, but I can see that they're well aware something is wrong.

"What are you planning on doing when you're out of hospital, young man?" the Hokage asks.

I can't really say anything. What would a 10 year old even do in Konoha? You could study as a ninja but I don't know when that starts even if I know the end-date.

"I don't know, sir." I respond honestly. What could I do?

"How old are you?" the Hokage continues.

"I'm not sure. My memories are pretty fuzzy." I reply once more.

The Hokage looks me over once more and I take the time to check myself once again. I'm at the same height I was when I was in the later years of primary school, but otherwise I look like a child version of adult me. Same build, same natural hairstyle. I'll hope it doesn't take too long to get used to being a kid again.

"How would you feel about studying at our ninja academy, young man?" the Hokage finally offers after a brief silence.

"Why would I want to be a ninja?" I ask, confused once again. Why would he offer this opportunity to an unknown child?

"I can tell when an amateur spy is trying to get into the village. I'm not getting that feeling from you. Ninja can graduate at 12 and are treated as adults are. You'd receive a stipend each month and you'd be allowed to stay in your own apartment." the Hokage offers. I really can't argue with that.

"Alright. When would I start?" I ask.

"The new school year is starting in 2 weeks. If you're able to get on your feet by that point, I'm sure you'd be able to start with the new class." the Hokage offers.

"Well, it seems like a good offer to me. I accept." I nod with a slight smile on my face. Things are finally going my way after a confusing start to this whole debacle.

That joy is suddenly ruined by a strange blue box popping up.

"You have enrolled at Konoha Ninja Academy."

* * *

After his declaration, the Hokage left and the other man just ran a few tests before leaving me in the room. This left me to deal with the apparently invisible box trying to shove itself into my face.

It was a really strange box. It was a pale blue and it glowed but not enough to be irritating. Much like the back-light on a TV. The colour and light on this thing was perfectly distributed and when I turned to the side to if I could see from another angle the box followed my line of sight. Irritating and highly artificial.

I reached out and tried to touch the box. When I touched the blue part of the box, the thing disappeared. I looked around this time and it seemed to be gone.

Why would a box like that suddenly appear in my face? It was like a prompt in a video game, and an irritating prompt at that. My life is not a video game and would never would be.

"You expect me to think of my life as a game, box? Want me to open up some menu's-" I get interrupted by a new box. I have a feeling I'm going to be hating boxes soon enough.

The options presented to me are really nothing out of the ordinary if you're a game. We've got an inventory tab, a character tab, a skills tabs and many other loveable tabs. More curious tabs include things like 'Settings' and 'Help'. As a man who cares little for instruction manuals, I decide to tap 'Settings' first. It feels a bit like using a touch screen with you hand getting stopped by some strange invisible force.

After hitting Settings, another menu opens up in front of the old one. This one has a bunch of words on my left with a bunch of option boxes on my right. Heading down from the top, they are, respectively, 'Difficulty', 'Language', 'Music', 'Subtitles'. Not as many options as I'd hoped but I guess you can't really have text speed here.

'Difficulty' had only one box to it's right that wasn't '?' and that was 'Normal'. Pity about the lack of 'Easy' if this is going to be my life, but I'll live.

'Language' had plenty of options. I'll just leave it on this lovely 'English' setting, thank you very much.

'Music' simply had an 'On' and an 'Off' option. I'll keep this on, but I'm ready to mute whatever music I hear. Gotta give this a chance.

'Subtitles' once again had a ton of languages. While it could be interesting to switch subtitles to a different language, I'll just keep it on 'English' for now.

While the options are helpful, there really isn't much to do. Rather than checking help, I decide to check the other menus, just so I have some context to put 'Help' into. The big ones are 'Character', 'Skills', 'Inventory' and 'Quests'.

Heading into 'Character', I come across a lovely 3D model of myself. Makes me look pretty shrimpy but there's a good deal of information on the side. A real lifesaver on the right is my age and date of birth. Age 8 and being born on the 12th of July is very workable.

Just below that is a listing of stats. This seems to be using the SPECIAL system with 'Strength', 'Perception', 'Endurance', 'Charisma' ,'Intelligence', 'Agility' and 'Luck'. The numbers on the other hand give me a feeling this isn't a score of 10. Strength of 7, Perception of 8, Endurance of 6, Charisma of 7 ,Intelligence of 8, Agility of 6 and Luck of 5. For now, I'll have to say that's good.

Backing out and heading into 'Skills', I see a few things, but far less than I was expecting. The three skills I see are 'Communication', 'Composure' and 'Analytics'. All of them have ranks of D. I was expecting numbers but ranks are a lot easier for me to put into context. Huzzah.

After not getting rank D sarcasm, I head for the inventory page. I'm wearing two items, 'Hospital Gown Torso' and 'Hospital Gown Legs'. Aside from that, there was a variety of body slots, including 2 ring fingers, a cape slot and a necklace slot. Doubt I'll be filling these all out soon. There are some stats down at the bottom, but they don't mean much to me now.

Going into 'Quests', I see a box that is pretty much empty. I have two tabs here, 'Quests' and 'Plot'. The quest tab is brighter than the plot tab, so I can assume it's selected at the moment. Tapping 'Plot' gets me a box within the box. Opening it up, the box is just a summary of what's happened so far with me agreeing to start training as a Ninja at the Academy. I'll have to keep an eye and see if it notices anything I don't.

Finally heading to Help, I tap it and I see a box pop up.

"Would you like to activate context sensitive help?"

...Sure, let's go with the 'Yes' button that's just beneath this question rather than the 'No' button on it's right.

"You have activated context sensitive help?"

I try tapping 'Help' again trying to get to some actual information.

"Would you like to deactivate context sensitive help?"

...No, I would not. I'm suddenly very disappointed with this help system. With some luck though, it might explain what stats do.

Heading back into the character tab, I tap and hold 'Strength'. Nothing happens. I try to hold down 'Luck' now. Nothing happens either.

This whole thing just got a lot more painful.


	2. New Town, New People

A week has passed since I arrived in Konoha.

I'd like to say it was a dramatic week full of new discoveries, but aside from trying figure out the new system I'm stuck with, nothing much has really happened. Some nurses have come by and I had to suffer through hospital food, but that's a story that shall be reopened never again.

One of the nurses did mention earlier today that a team of genin would be coming to pick me up and show me to my new apartment. Sure hope I don't have to do that as a genin.

The door opens and 5 people come in. I recognise one of them as a nurse, but the other four are new. Three kids and an adult leads me to believe this is my escort. There's boy with spiky hair, a girl with a smile, another boy looking bored and a rather notable jounin adult. Thus they become Spike, Peppy, Gloomy and Sir. I'm not going to mouth off a jounin at this point.

"Hey, you the kid who needed a guide around the village?" Spike asks.

"Yes, that's me. When do we leave?" I respond.

"Guess we're leaving as soon as you get signed out at the front counter. Come on!" Spike continues, gesturing for me to follow him.

Hopping off the bed and following him, the team and I go down to the reception office. After going up to front counter and just going through some paperwork, we're off. I was led through that paperwork and I doubt I'm going to remember any of it.

Heading down the streets, Konoha looks a lot like I had imagined it to be. There's a multitude of stands selling a variety of things on both sides of the path and people are milling around. Food seems to be the main thing sold around here but the lines don't look so long. Guess it isn't lunch hour just yet.

We come to a sudden stop outside of an apartment as I'm looking around. I hadn't noticed it to be an apartment because the apartment's I'm used are a lot bigger than this 3 story building in front of me. The building doesn't really stand out, but the sign is nice and obvious. 'Konoha Shinobi Quarters'? Guess it's what I'm calling home for the future.

'Huh, isn't this the ninja heavy part of town?" Peppy asks her teacher.

"It is. A good deal of ninja equipment stores are in this part of town and the Hokage tower isn't far from here. It's a long story." their teacher responds.

"Did they give you my key when they passed me off onto you?" I ask, not really wanting to hear this story now.

Gloomy just passes the key along to me with a grunt. I respond with a grunt in kind and take a quick look at the key. 303 is printed on it. I'd take a look up but I doubt I'd be able to see anything of my new joint.

"That should be it. I guess you can leave now?" I tell them. I don't need a babysitter to walk me up the stairs, seriously.

"Can't do that. We've got to make sure the door's working, hey?" Spike responds jokingly. Don't use up your good karma, friend.

Just shaking my head, I begin to head into the building. Inside, it's a normal building that seems to be made out of wood like a good deal of buildings around here. There's a few people inside, few of which nod and smile. I reply in kind and continue up the stairs. Not too touchy, not too cold so far.

Arriving at 303, I jam the key into the lock, and it opens without much resistence. Turning my head to the genin team, I raise my eyebrows.

"This enough for you to report back?" I say, not really wanting to let other people into my new house.

"Mission complete team. They'll send someone here next week to show you the way to the academy." their teacher replies, still calm as ever.

"Thanks. Is that all?" I ask.

"It is. Good bye." He replies in kind.

With a final nod, I close the door and collapse on the very convenient couch provided inside. Getting up and moving after so long is more tiring than I thought. Since I have the time now, I decide to do a quick check of my 'Skills' again. Last time I gained skills, there was no prompt telling me about them. Tapping a few buttons, I get to the 'Skills' tab once again, before getting a massive wall of text shot out at me.

Skimming through it revealed a few good points but in an overly enthusiastic tone. Skills were obtained and levelled by doing things, and they were invisible until the first time you did them. Levelling a skill to C-rank or higher nets you stat bonuses and boost the ability of that skill. Discover new things and discover strength beyond belief!

Ugh, now I'm getting infected by the thing's enthusiasm. That explanation aside, I'd picked Rank D Persuasion. I didn't think a failed attempt to do something would give me bonuses, but cheers to that. Seems like I'll be picking up a lot of different skills at the Academy, at the rate this is going.

Moaning aside, I'm not entirely sure what I have to do now aside from get strong and live through the plot. I'll admit I had stopped paying attention to Naruto at some point because of other things, but I still knew a fair bit and had my guesses. I didn't really care to try messing around with the plot aside from the obvious 'stop Sasuke from running away oh no!' plot. I'll admit I liked Sasuke before he got his seal. He was the best of the students, the one who blew fireballs at people and died for his friend. Kind of hard to shake that impression off.

Getting my mind back on track, I can only say there's two real goals for me as is. Survive the plot of Naruto and get any information I can on this bloodline and my appearance in this world. I'd say this world and this system have probably been done by the same person. Someone who needs to get punched in the face. Who would just shove a dude into a kid's body?

* * *

The next day comes by and I'm up by 7. It's good to know that this apartment was stocked with quite a bit of furniture. This apartment almost feels like a motel, but I'm going to be in here for much longer than a road trip.

A lot more awake and less tired now, I realise I haven't bought any clothes. The hospital gown I came in is not exactly appropriate wear for class. I open the drawers in my bedroom and lo behold, there's a set of clothing with a note.

"Remember to return your hospital clothes to the hospital when you get back - Sandaime Hokage"

Thanks, old man. Should have had more faith in his planning skills.

Changing into the comfortable combo of black shorts and a green shirt, I set aside the hospital gown. I'm not sure how long I'm been in that thing, and I'm not sure I care.

Checking back in the drawers, and there's another parcel attached. Inside this parcel is some money. I have no clue how much 50,000 Ryo is, but I'm going to assume it's a good deal. Grabbing 10,000 Ryo, I quickly hide away the rest of it inside the draw. Now that I have something worth stealing, I'm going to have to lock the door.

Heading outside to try and find something to eat, I stumble upon something I didn't want.

It was Might Guy looking like he'd just come back from a morning run. He had a towel slung over his shoulder but he still looked like he was full of energy. I'd try and hide as soon as possible, hungry or not, but he saw me before I could escape.

"YOSH! Good morning! How are you doing this youthful morning?" He says, with much joy in his voice.

"Um, well, thank you very much?" I can only respond in some state of shock.

"Are you my newest neighbour?" Guy asks, still far too happy.

"I, well I'm 303 so maybe?" I ask, beginning to edge backwards a bit.

"Good to see you up so early then! My residence is 302!" Guy says, giving me a sparkling smile.

"Er, well, I'll just be on my way then. I haven't had breakfast yet..." I ask, trying to get down the stairs while keeping as much distance between Guy and I as possible.

"Well, I'm more than happy to treat my new neighbour out to breakfast!" Guy exclaims pulling the nice guy pose on me. I'm going to go blind at this rate, with all those shiny teeth glinting in my eyes.

"Well, sure. I guess..." I respond. I don't think I can get out of this as much as I want to.

"Excellent! I'll be just a moment. Wait for me downstairs!" he says before dashing into his apartment.

I just let out a breath and start heading downstairs. Why did I have the luck to get set up next to Guy of all people? I would've preferred a normal neighbour, even with his skill. Still, might as well get a tour around the place while I'm getting dragged around. After a few moments downstairs, Guy is quick to arrive.

"Hello again! I forgot to ask you for your name earlier!" Guy says. I realise now that nobody's used my name for a while. Nobody's asked either. It's too unlike the names here as well. It would definitely invoke some questions if I used it here. Think, brain! What's a good name?

"I'm Shoryuu Kannagi. And you are?" I respond, settling on my new name.

"Ah, my apologies! I forgot to tell you my name in my excitement! I must introduce myself to 100 new people day..." he began to rant before I decided enough was enough.

"I'll just have to call you Green, if I can't get a name." I let out.

"Might Guy is my name!" he responds, snapping out of his rant.

"Alright, you lead the way then. I don't know anything around here." I say, getting up.

* * *

Turns out Guy knows the area pretty well. I thought someone like him would be too obsessed with training to know the area, but he seems pretty well-known and loved around here. I can sort of get why too, since he bought me some free breakfast and showed me around the local markets. Nice guy, but I don't think I could get used to his enthusiasm.

After getting a few pointers to of the area, Guy ran off to the Hokage's Tower. No clue what he's doing, but I've got a free week so best to try some things out. The big thing to do this week is to reach C rank in something and grab as many new skills as I can. Though I wouldn't turn down seeing one of the main cast. That could be a big thing.

After coming up with a rough plan, I decide to head down to a local library. If there's one place that has a ton of knowledge, it's a library. I can't be certain whether just learning about these skill will grant me them or I'll actually need to do them, but it's something worth checking.

* * *

Now I'm going through my third book, but I've only gotten one skill so far. "Reading". I'd assume it's something too basic to need a skill, but it's there and at Rank D. I went through a book on gardening and blacksmithing. I'm avoiding books that focus on ninja things since I'll be grabbing those in the Academy anyway.

I've just finished up my third book on fishing to no reward. I head over back to the bookcase to return it when I see a flash of pink pass behind a bookcase. I slot the book back where it belongs and I begin to follow the pink thing.

Pinky goes for a seat and begins to read her book before I realise who it is. I didn't expect to run into an 8 year old Sakura Haruno here in the library. I honestly should have expected it with her being top but I forgot about her. She's not a very significant character in my eyes. More intriguing is the fact that she's holding a book on what seems code breaking. One only meant for non-ninjas like the current version of myself, but it seems to be what could be the start of a code-breaking skill.

Pushing aside my worries, I head over her. She looks up to me and seems a bit scared of me. She's fairly short for age and I'm fairly tall for mine with an evil looking nose. A quick smile is put up to try and stop her from worrying but to no avail.

"Hey, where do you find the books on code-breaking? I've been looking for something like that. Can you show me where you found it?" I figure a request for help is probably my best bet. Making me look a bit more helpless is going make me look less dangerous.

She just squeaks and points towards a certain bookcase and gestures up before hiding her face behind her book again. Plan not successful, sad to say. I wonder how the Academy will react to me if Sakura gave me this kind of reaction?

Heading over to the bookcase and where she gestured, I'm lucky enough to find some books on code-breaking. Some of them are duplicates, but I figure 'Code Breaking - Code Broken' is a good start as any right.

I grab a seat and begin to read through it.

* * *

After my day at the library, I head to grab some groceries and then head back to my place. Arriving at my house, I decide to check what skills I've picked up. I open up the menu. Where did that second one come from? I get why I've picked up Code-Breaking but the other one...

What did I do to unlock Deception?

* * *

Give me a shout if you want me to make a character page. I'd also like to know if setting out any SPECIAL readings going downwards would be fine. I feel like it's setting you up for disappointment if I do it that way by making the slider on the side imply there's a lot.


	3. Free Power at your Local Academy

After a week in the library, I think I've picked enough general knowledge on this world and it's history to fit in well enough when I'm in the academy. Too bad I didn't really accomplish much else there. No skills were gained and Sakura is still too shy to talk to me. Time's up and I can scratch that path off for now.

While it's true I didn't accomplish much at the Library, I did manage to get Analytics up to Rank C when I was trying to figure some things about Guy. I was pretty surprised when that happened because not only did it give me a message but it gave me a 'technique' as well as the promised stats. I picked up an extra point in perception, but I still have no clue what that stat does.

After I unlocked this technique, another menu was added to the big menu from earlier. As you'd expect, it's called 'Techniques'. Right now there's only one skill on the list. 'Scan' with a cost of 0 Chakra. Good thing it's free, since my character screen still doesn't say anything about chakra. I don't think I can actually use it until I get the prerequisites for it which are hopefully in the academy.

Scan itself is an interesting duck. The only thing I have to do is think to myself 'activate scan' and a window appears whatever I'm looking at. These windows have the person's name and rank if I know them, as well as some information about their stats. Although, it seems that if a person is much stronger than me, I can't get any information on them. All the numbers on Guy's windows are '?'. I don't even know if that means his stats are below 100 or it's just a generic missing number. Until I can get a look at something like a tailed beast or something else brokenly powerful, I'm not going to know either.

Back on track with Sakura, I have her stats.

Strength - 5

Perception - 7

Endurance - 6

Charisma - 6

Intelligence - 10

Agility - 6

Luck - 6

While it speaks fairly well of me, I don't know much of a difference 1 point is between two people. I can only really use this for comparison's sake, but it works. There is far too much I don't know here. Luckily, I have 4 years to figure this out. Watch me fail to do this until I'm 16 and on the brink of death.

* * *

It's morning here and I've finished up breakfast here. I'm just waiting for my escort to the academy to arrive. I'm waiting downstairs in the lobby when a pale silver haired man arrives.

"Good morning. Are you the new student who needed a guide?" Mizuki says, walking up to me.

I remember Mizuki alright. I've read the first few chapters of the manga multiple times and my experience with the anime only went into the chunin exams arc. I've also heard something about him working for Orochimaru, but that could just be fanfiction.

"Yes I am. I'm guessing you're my guide?" I ask. Even if he is planning on betraying the village later, doesn't mean I can't use him as a guide. Hell, he's probably one of the best guides I could get. This gives me a chance to get to know a teacher before plunging into the deep end.

"You're right. With that kind of initiative, I'm sure you'll do well at the academy." Mizuki says. Glad to live up to your expectations, I guess?

"Thanks. We going to get going now?" I reply.

* * *

Having arrived at the Academy, I have to admit I'm little surprised. I'd always gotten the impression that it was on the small side and pretty old. It was actually pretty big and it had plenty of things set up outside. To be honest, I'm not sure what I was expecting.

Right now, I'm waiting in front of a class. I'm with Mizuki from earlier and we're just waiting for the rest of the class to trickle in. I'm guessing that Mizuki is teacher here. While I'm on this topic, I forgot to scan him earlier. It's just one word through my head.

But all I get to see is the same '?' I saw from Guy. Well except for his Luck of 3. Sucks to be him, I guess.

"Settle down everyone. We have a new student here." Mizuki says, getting the rest of the class to be quiet.

The class seems to be the same year that the heroes were in. The only reason I'm saying that is the little group of Sasuke, Ino and Sakura seems to formed up the back. Ino seems to have claimed the seat next to Sasuke today. I can still remember that little scene with the fighting for Sasuke's seat, I guess. Mizuki nudges me forward at this point.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Shoryuu Kannagi. It's nice to meet you?" I say. I never said I was good at introducing myself or with kids. I might need some more points in Charisma honestly...

The response to me is lukewarm at best honestly speaking. No whispered comments, interested looks. It's like they honestly don't care I'm joining. I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

Mizuki gestures me to take a seat. There's still a few open seats in the class, but unless I felt like taking the empty corner up the back, I'm stuck with someone. Empty back corner it is.

I take out everything I need and prepare for the lesson. The class begins to fade into their work as Mizuki begins a lecture on the founding of Konoha. Did I even need to study earlier for this?

* * *

Now that Mizuki's finished extolling the virtues of Senju Hashirama, my mind snap awakes. I really hope I don't have to endure this for the entire year. I was hoping for more combat skills, but I'll just have to wait.

Class is out for lunch now. Most people have split off into their own groups. The fields we're allowed out onto at lunch are fairly big. I've already lost the three from earlier and I have no clue where they went. Most of these kids have already started their own games. I've been left out. I might even shed a tear.

I decide to take residence under a shady tree. The sun is a murderous thing and the heat in Konoha is not something you can easily shrug off. It's pretty humid here. I hate humid. This better not be autumn otherwise I'm going to be spending a lot of time finding a way to cool down.

Hearing a rustle from a branch above, I take a look up. It is the mysterious missing Sasuke Uchiha. I suppose it's one way of dodging his fanbase.

"Hi. Is it comfortable up there?" I ask.

"...More comfortable than with those girls." Sasuke lets out after a bit.

"Friends of yours?" I ask, once more.

"Don't even joke about that." Sasuke shoots down with a glare.

I suppose this a good as any to take a scan of him.

Strength - 9

Perception - 10

Endurance - 8

Charisma - 5

Intelligence - 9

Agility - 11

Luck - 4

I'm really outclassed here, huh? Good thing he's terrible with people, otherwise I'd literally be worse than him. Still, I can use this to try figure out the value of one point. Is it a slight advantage or is it a bigger difference? I'm guessing at this level it's a big difference.

I'm guessing too many things.

Sasuke suddenly flinches and goes quieter than he was before. I know, I'm impressed too. But I can see why with a group of girls approaching. There's about 4 of them there and I can only assume that is part of Sasuke's legendary fan club. The real reason he left Konoha. A purple haired girl is the first to take the lead.

"Hey, new kid! Have you seen Sasuke anywhere?" She asks. Thanks for your concern, brat.

"Shoryuu and who's Sasuke?" I ask, tilting my head slightly and putting on a show.

With a dismissive snort, she leads and takes the other girls away with her. Student of the year, I tell you. Sasuke lets out a sigh and seems to relax in his tree.

"Dodging these girls?" I ask, smirking.

"Thanks. I don't have time to waste with those fools." Sasuke grumbles out.

I begin to open up the menu to see if I've picked up anything of late and lo behold, I have 2 messages waiting.

"Your Deception skill has been raised to Rank C. You have gained one point of Intelligence."

"Your Composure skill has been raised to Rank C. You have gained one point of Charisma."

Sweet. Path to power, here I come hobbling down. Checking my character tab, my current stats are as follows.

Strength - 7

Perception - 9

Endurance - 6

Charisma - 8

Intelligence - 9

Agility - 6

Luck - 5

Evidently, I am the smoothest talker in town. Well, more so the playground. Both Mizuki and Guy have higher Charisma stats than me. Exact values are another mystery. I know I can see stats up to 5 points higher than my value in that area though, thanks to Sasuke. I really need to try and fix that speed and stamina issue though. Right now it looks like I'm going to be able to make a good first strike but nothing more.

"Hey Sasuke. You know where I can go to catch up on Taijustu practice?" I ask him. If he doesn't have the info, I'm going to have to ask the teachers.

"We have taijustu classes later on in the afternoon. You'll be better off than some people anyway." Sasuke responds. I don't know about that better off part considering I'm pretty much on par with Sakura for taijutsu stats...

At the very least, I can get some practice in the afternoon. I might lose horribly but this class is almost guaranteed to give me some new skills. It would be really nice if 'Punch' and 'Kick' were different skills so I could grab more stats but it's mostly likely going to give me 'Taijutsu'. Still seems like it could give some strength, endurance or agility.

* * *

Lunch is over and everyone's back in the classroom. I guess making sure everyone's here is pretty important with valuables like clan heirs in these classes. Wouldn't want any special students to go missing.

...That seems far too likely with Danzo and his Root around. I really wonder how he managed to get the Hyuuga and Aburame into his program. Does this village just have spare kekkai genkai wielders lying around? I don't think I want to really know.

* * *

It didn't take too long to get everyone out into the training area for taijutsu. We're just in a hall with some cushioned mats set out. That's a slight reassurance if any. Some of the other classes seem to be here and we total around 50 people. I can also see the entire rookie whatever.

"Okay, everyone remember how this works? I'll be showing some basic combat techniques and then we'll be trying to apply that technique to a proper spar. I'll set you up for some single matches with the victory condition of first to three clean hits." Mizuki explains.

Works for me. I don't actually know much about fighting, but I can learn. The only problem here is how much I'm expected to already know coming in here. Am I expected to know how to do things like throw a punch?

"Today, we're going to learn how to hold your knuckles when doing a basic punch" Mizuki says cheerfully, to the joy of the rest of the class.

...What did they do last year then?

* * *

I'm fine with learning how to punch. I'm actually willing to take Mizuki's words here and I don't feel like being a stubborn child. I'm quick to pick this up but I'm not the first. Would you really be surprised to find out Mr. Genius Sasuke was the first to figure this out? He's pretty good at copying people. I needed it explained.

Right now, Mizuki's pairing people together for the singles spars. Of note is the Ino vs. Sakura and the fact that they seem to be keeping the boys and girls away from fighting each other. I'd forgotten that the academy did that and now I need to laugh at the girls when they start doing their flower arrangement classes. Although, I don't know what the guys do while the girls are doing flowers so I don't have the right to laugh yet. Hard to be more pointless than flower arrangement.

"Shoryuu Kannagi will fight... Naruto Uzumaki for match 6." Mizuki says.

Well, this is an interesting curveball. I didn't expect to be fighting Naruto or even getting into contact with him this early in the series. There was some special circumstances around him, I think, but I can't remember them. Might just be thinking of something. I take a quick scan.

Strength - 7

Perception - 5

Endurance - ?

Charisma - 7

Intelligence - 5

Agility - 7

Luck - 10

Looks fine except for that crazy luck and endurance. This means his endurance has to be higher than 11. Good thing this match is a lot more lopsided to fit me. Perception is likely going to affect accuracy in battles, and I've got 4 points there over him. A battle can't be determined by stats though, so it's all in the air.

Mizuki continues to read out the rest of matches. He's got about 20 more matches to read off so this gives me the time to investigate the rest of the year. We've Ino and Sakura still watching Sasuke, Sasuke being a loner and try to put some distance between him and some girls, Shikamaru and Choji sitting together, Hinata in a corner, Kiba with some others, Shino standing away from most of the year. That just leaves Naruto who's gone missing while I was looking over the rest of the class.

"Hey! New kid, you'd better get ready to face Naruto Uzumaki, the next Hokage!" He got behind me.

"First blood to you, I suppose. You've already killed my eardrums, almighty ninja." He's yelling right into my ear as well.

"Huh? What's that suppose to mean? Are you admitting I'm awesome?" Naruto asks, blushing a little and scratching his neck.

"If you feel like taking it that way, certainly so." I'm not letting him annoy me.

"Wait, what's that suppose to mean?" Naruto says as he develops a confused look on his face.

I just have to laugh a little at his expression before moving away before he kills my ears again. By now, most of the match ups are sorted. Mizuki, and the other teacher who I hadn't noticed before, clear out some room to have two matches going on at once. She's a female teacher. No clue who she is beyond that. Sasuke passes by me since he's up for the first match with the female teacher. On his way by, he slips me a message.

"You're meant to be waiting with Suzume-sensei." Sasuke says before entering the arena over there.

I've got a name now for that teacher, I guess. Seems like I'm also expected to refer to teachers as sensei. There's been a complete lack of honorifics used so far, so I'm a little surprised to hear this. Might have something to do with my language choice.

Sasuke's fighting some kid. A quick scan reveals he's a nobody called Akira.

Strength - 6

Perception - 6

Endurance - 6

Charisma - 5

Intelligence - 5

Agility - 7

Luck - 5

He's almost completely generic. Loses out even to me in nearly everything except agility. Sasuke's going to destroy this guy.

My predication doesn't seem very off from the first few seconds of the fight. Akira goes for a first strike but he misses Sasuke and gets punched in the chest real quick. This fight is almost like it's custom built for Sasuke. It's all about hitting your opponent and not getting hit. His perception and agility are too high for him to lose this match.

My predication isn't off. It takes two more stumbles from Akira to Sasuke to pounce on him twice. Unlucky fellow, fighting what's probably the top in the class for this part of testing.

Next fight I'm seeing is actually Hinata against Sakura. I've already seen Sakura's rather middling stats. She should be somewhat okay for this but I suspect Hinata is much better. A quick scan affirms those suspicions.

Strength - 8

Perception - 9

Endurance - 8

Charisma - 6

Intelligence - 8

Agility - 12

Luck - 4

That's a monstrous agility stat, if I ever saw one. She's literally doubling me when it comes to agility. It does make sense though. If the Hyuuga style is based on light hits and speed, logic follows they'd be fast and good at hitting things.

The fight is also very quick. This match might be even more lopsided than the previous one, but it isn't as quick as the last one. Neither of them are exactly the most decisive so it takes some time for Hinata to finish off Sakura, 3 - 0. This means I'm up.

Heading into the fighting area, I can certainly see Naruto is all fired up. He's standing legs spreaded and fists in front of him. He's not even holding his fists right though. If his technique is looking so terrible already, it's going to be an even quicker match than I expected.

Taking a fencers stance, I stand facing him with my side forward. These sparring matches are all about a clean hit. Taking a fencer's stance makes me less vulnerable and makes my profile smaller.

He rushes in and tries to punch in the face. It's not even a bad attempt. Too bad that he's telegraphed it when he jumps literally a meter away from me. I dodge to the side and strike him in the chest while's he stumbling.

"1 point to Shoryuu. " Suzume-sensei calls. Gonna have to get used to that.

Naruto's a little more cautious this time. He knows I'm going to dodge if he tries that again. This time he's waiting for me.

I move forward and go for a blow to the face. He dodges it and prepares to strike me back. Too bad he hasn't my other fist following up. Really lives up to that 5 Perception there.

"2 - 0 in favour of Shoryuu." Suzume-sensei calls with a slight smile. Is she biased against Naruto as well?

Naruto's shaken up now. I'm starting to think he wasn't expecting to lose this badly against the new kid. Kind of sad to see him like this.

"Not bad. You're learning." A few reassuring words might make me feel like less of a villain.

He perks up a little at that and seems to regain a bit of fire in his eyes. He's charging forward again and tries to punch while not leaving the ground. I move forward and go for a punch as well.

I'm taller.

"3 - 0. Good job Shoryuu." Suzume-sensei says with a smile.

It doesn't do much for Naruto's mood though. I'm thinking of something to say, when he just turns and leaves. Nothing that the victor says can cheer up him, I guess. He'll bounce back on his own, probably...

"Nice job shutting the idiot up." Sasuke smirks.

"You and him must be great friends." I snark back.

"He's an idiot. Am I supposed to feel bad for the dead last?" Sasuke shoots back, still in a good mood.

"No, I guess not. Still, don't make me feel like I'm kicking a puppy." I say. Naruto'll have to earn Sasuke's respect later, I guess.

"Don't let dog-boy hear that." Sasuke finishes before going off again.

Are we friends? If so, this is one of the odder friendships I've had. Hope he doesn't make me his new best friend and try to kill me later.

Opening up the menu to 'Skills', I'm happy to see two new skills. A very profitable day today. Valour and Taijutsu seem good, even if I have no clue what Valour is meant to be. Either way, this academy is pretty obviously the fast track to power.

Just 4 years of this and then we hit canon. I've got a lot of grinding to do.

* * *

After this I'm probably going to do a bit of a fast forward to test date. Mind you, I'm picking Disgaea D2 so I'm not going to be online as much. I've just been writing this while I was waiting for other things.


	4. A Very Terrible Decision

League can get way too addictive when you have friends to play with.

Navn Ukjent - Original intention was to have Analysis at that level be able to see stats up to 10 points higher. I might need to consider a beta when I start writing this thing on a bit more of a frequent basis.

* * *

I can hear a knocking at the door. It's only 8 in the morning and I'm guessing it's Guy. He's the only person who knows where I live. I'm not that close with my classmates. One of the things about being the new kid, I guess.

"Yes? What do you need? I have to get going soon." I answer without opening the door. He just keeps on knocking.

I head over and begin to open the door. He'd better have a good reason for being so happy in the morning. Waking up early doesn't mean I feel like being active this early, you know?

The door's open and a smile from his very shiny teeth burns out my eyes. Guess that's my ninja career over. Shoryuu Kannagi, ended at Age 8 due to blindness from very shiny teeth.

"Look, what did you want? It's too early to be putting in effort." I grumble while trying to get my eyes to recover.

"Young Shoryuu, that's a very negative attitude to have in the morning! Youth should be full of energy and ready to face the world! I simply thought my new neighbour would like to go for a morning jog with me." Guy says, still smiling.

"I've got to get to classes in an hour. Sorry but I need to prepare for them." I say, not actually having any work. Unless there's going to be a running skill involved, I really don't want to get involved with Guy's legendary training sessions.

"Well then, how could I help you?" Guy offers.

"...I just need to mentally prepare myself. It's hard being the new kid, you know?" I say, evading his gaze.

"Not to fear! A good morning jog should help you get any worries off your mind. I just finished up some morning training and thought I'd cooldown a bit. I'll be waiting outside!" Guy says, before dashing off and jumping to the first floor.

Ninja. I'm not getting out of this now but it isn't one of his training sessions. It's worth checking out for some running skills anyway.

I wonder when I stopped worrying about my life and started obsessing over skills.

* * *

Hopping over a rock here and I land on the other side of a river. I don't know why Guy's morning jog route goes right next to a waterfall but I'm checking this place out in more detail later. I've never seen a small waterfall before. Not the kind of thing you see in a dry country and I didn't expect to see one in Konoha either.

Slowing down, Guy begins to wait outside of the gate to a training ground. I've fallen a bit behind but he's been going slowly enough not to lose me even when I began to run out of breath. Nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be and it gave me a good view of the waterfall.

"Hey... Where are we now?" I ask, catching my breath.

"We've just finished up our little run of Training Ground 3. How did you feel about it?" Guy asks, looking happier than before.

"I could get used to this. The waterfall's pretty nice. I don't think I've ever seen one before." I reply. I do want to come back sometime.

"Well, you're free to come back here in your spare time. Training Ground 3 is open to students. I hear it was made for students." Guy answers.

"Yeah, I'll be back here. I gotta get to the Academy though." I start, before realising I don't where we are in comparison to the Academy.

"I'll take you there. I need to go to the Hokage Tower to report in and they are right next to each other." Guy continues to be helpful. I could have definitely gotten worse neighbours. Sorry Kakashi, but you're not quite as cool as Guy any more.

* * *

Checking into the menu on the way to the Academy, I'm pleasantly surprised to see two new skills. Acrobatics and Stamina are both at D rank and they look like they'll give me some stats I needed. Though I wonder what exactly qualifies for 'Stamina' training...

Either way, I've got another class waiting for me. A quick look around shows that most of the students are still outside but I've still got nowhere to really go. If I have nowhere else to go, I might as well take another look around.

Might work to try and meet up with all the Rookie 9. They are going to be important in the future and if I can get in with some of them, it'll make my life a lot easier. Having powerful friends hasn't killed anyone yet, at least none I can remember.

It doesn't take long to find my first lot of people. I can Choji and Shikamaru sitting together, not doing much. I thought Ino would've been with them but the fan club is definitely a thing already. Shouldn't be too hard to get to know them considering they had a reputation as friendly.

Plotting things out at 8. Lovely.

"Hey. I think I've seen you two before. Aren't you in my class?" I say. Was I too forward? Did I come off as aggressive? Why am I worrying so much?

"Um, hi. You're Shoryuu, right?" Choji replies.

"Yep. I just thought I'd try to learn about my classmates. Shoryuu Kannagi, and I don't know either of you two yet?" I prompt.

"I'm Choji and this is Shikamaru. Nice to meet you, Shoryuu." Choji says, putting out a arm.

We exchange handshakes. I think I might've picked the right person to start with. Choji always did seem like a nice person in the series. I might even try to avoid making a fat joke here. Considering how Choji reacted to those in the series, it was probably a good idea. Bad ideas are always so tempting.

"Having fun down there?" I gesture to the resting Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru's just taking a nap. He always does this before class." Choji explains.

How is he sleeping with his eyes open?

* * *

The Academy was pretty much the same as yesterday, just without the taijutsu part. Apparently, that's only 3 times a week. I'd say I was happy for missing out on the equivalent of PE lessons but I could really use the practice. It does leave me fresh for the rest of the day.

The Academy's over for now and I figured I could head over to Training Ground 3. I just feel like having some time to think over things in more detail would be nice. There's a few details I'll need to think about for later, such as how to deal with placements.

I can remember the rough path back to the waterfall. Pass by a udon shop, pass by a bookstore and it's not too far from a hotspring. I sure hope nothing goes flying over my head. Jiraiya shouldn't be in town around this time, but aside from the info about him searching for Orochimaru, I can't really ascertain his position. Though the chances of seeing him around are far too low for me to really be thinking about things. It's just something to keep in mind.

Arriving at the waterfall, there's not many people here. A few students, probably from the years above me, are here. Isolated from the rest of the group is a boy in a martial artist's training shirt thing punching out. The name eludes me at the moment but it's definitely an unusual sight. Seems like I've seen it before but I've never even looked at the filler. He turns around and suddenly, things fall into place.

I'd forgotten Rock Lee was like this before Guy.

I'd like to just forgot this happened. I really don't want to have this overly enthusisatic person following me around for an undetermined amount of time. But at the same time, I have to admire his determination. Who am I to ignore his will?

"Hey there. What are you practising?" I ask, casually.

"I am practising my punches! Hello, I am Rock Lee. It is very nice to meet you." Lee introduces himself with a smile. Same old optimistic idiot as I remember.

"Sorry about that, I'm Shoryuu Kannagi. Which year are you in?" I ask.

"I am in my second year of Ninja Academy!" Lee answers happily.

"Year above me, huh? Interesting." Taking the chance to do a quick scan, his stats are quite different that what I had expected.

Strength - 8

Perception - 7

Endurance - 9

Charisma - 5

Intelligence - 6

Agility - 9

Luck - 6

He's not that much better than me in all honestly. I can see that the melee combat based stats are higher on him in the case on strength, endurance and agility but he's losing to both Sasuke and Hinata in different areas. Looks like he needs to meet up with Gai and get training if we want to see Chunin Exams Lee any time soon.

"Ah, then you would be in your first year?" Lee asks, knocking me out of my thoughts.

"Mmm, yeah. You just training here?" I ask back.

"Yes! I must improve my taijutsu skills or I will not be able to keep up with my year." Lee responds, still cheerful.

"Pretty cool of you. You always come here this time of the day?" I ask.

"Yes, unless there is somewhere I can train better. But I find this training ground rather calming." Lee explains.

"I get you. I'm considering making a habit of coming here every morning. I just got set up here, so I'm a little everywhere at the moment." I say.

"Ah well, maybe I will see you in the morning tomorrow!" Lee says happily.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." With a wave and a nod, I'm off.

* * *

I didn't head that far from Lee, just heading over to the waterfall and the associated stream. I've decided to take a seat while I try to organise my thoughts. I'm doing this a lot lately, but getting dunked into chaos does that.

There's a lot more to Konoha than was mentioned in the series. It's going to take some time to wrap my head around this but I'm starting to get my feet steady here. Going mostly forgotten here works fine for me.

The stream is continuously flowing, even now. If I dropped a rock in it, the stream would deform ever so slightly but it would recover. I'd like to be able to keep my future knowledge so going low-key is the plan.

Back on the stream, there's actually a few shadows beneath the surface. They're just wriggling their way down the river, uncaring of anything. Looks like a circular blob so I guess it's a fish. Poor fish's been thrown down a waterfall. It might have been thrown off a cliff but it's still going on.

Tapping the water, the fish darts forward. Even in the face of adversity, it still continues. Props to the fish.

Moving my hand a bit ahead of the fish, I dunk my hand in the water. The fish darts forward and straight into my hands. Closing my grip, I drag it out of the water.

It's a fish. What else could I say?

Letting the fish back into the water, I think I've sorted out my thoughts for today.

I need to keep a low profile to make sure nothing changes too much from canon. I need to be on the look out for someone like Danzo as well. I should be low-key enough to be ignored, but some people are beyond my thought processes. How do you help Konoha by aggravating the world again?

Checking my skills for something like a fishing skill, I wasn't expecting this.

"Your Analytics Skill has been raised to rank B. You have gained one point of Perception and one point of Intelligence. Additionally, your 'Scan' ability has been enhanced.' I didn't even know the limits on that thing, but still sweet. Going to be bugging me for a bit though.

"You have developed the 'Water Affinity' skill at rank D."

There's the new thing. I suppose that's the start of an affinity but I'm going to be wondering if I could've developed another skill. Another answer, another question. I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here.

Water Affinity doesn't seem like a thing I can really start yet. The training for it was never mentioned and the only water user I can really remember is Zabuza. Kisame might've done some things as well but all I remember was some sharks and a few waves. Nothing I could practice. Something I need to look into at some point. Going for an assassin style build could honestly work out pretty well. I've got the perception stat to get off a good hit, my endurance is low enough I'd want to avoid a prolonged engagement and I've already been practising stealth.

That brings me to what I'd actually what to focus on for a stealthy assassin build. The obvious focus stats are perception and agility. From there I'd need to choose whether to focus on ninjutsu with a focus in intelligence or taijutsu with weapons for the alternate strength path. The first option would go with some overwhelmingly powerful ninjutsu to kill my opponents as fast as possible. The second option would be about being able to sneak up and get off devastating first strikes.

All in all, it sounds like an alright path to take. Seems like less raw combat and more preparation and positioning. Gives me a bit of a niche in the future as well. I'll worry about the ramifications later though. Checking my stats now to see which area is the biggest problem.

Strength - 7

Perception - 10

Endurance - 6

Charisma - 8

Intelligence - 10

Agility - 6

Luck - 5

It's not something I'd noticed earlier but I've been getting a lot of points in perception and intelligence over other stats. A bit annoying considering I've been wanting some agility for a good deal of time but power is power.

I'm not too sure about focusing on ninjutsu for now though. Even though I have a good base to work from here, I'm still missing any sort of ninjutsu. Current plan seems to be to focus on dragging that agility out of the gutter and into something feasible. That means a lot of taijutsu practice and exercise. Looks like I am going to be joining Guy on his morning runs.

* * *

"Well, of course you can join me on a morning run! But what inspired this sudden burst of youthfulness?" Guy asks.

"Feelings of personal inadequacy, I guess?" I hadn't exactly planned this part through...

"No fears, I'll have you all the confidence you need in no time!" Guy proclaims pulling the nice guy pose.

"Er, thanks?" Did I choose wrongly here...?

* * *

Thing's not dead quite yet. I wasn't expecting this year to be quite so heavy on the work. Kind of got my bearings for now, so I'll see what I can do in the near future. I finish up assessments at the end of March, so I can write up a next chapter then. This is kind of a boring part of the story, even if I do get to write original. Next chapter is definitely pulling a time skip.


End file.
